Why Serve Employees When 47% are Thinking About Quitting Right Now
47% of workers are thinking about quitting right now.*
Why expend time and resources serving people if they’re going to move on in 4 years?
#1. Turnover stings:
The only time turnover doesn’t sting is when you’re glad to see them go.
The people on your team today won’t likely be on your team in the future.
The median number of years that wage and salary workers had been with their current employer was 4.1 years in January 2020.
The median tenure of workers ages 25 to 34 is 2.8 years. Older workers (55 to 64 years of age) tend to stay almost 10 years. (Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Frustration with turnover tends to close your heart and weaken your commitment to develop people.
#2. Leadership is about the people:
People reflect the greatest opportunity of leadership, even though they tend to leave. The joys and pains of leadership usually trace back to people.
Your greatest contribution is connecting, developing, and advancing people. But daily hustle obscures leadership’s greatest contribution.
One survey showed that 58% of young employees planned to change jobs last year. Why? They were looking for learning and development.
Retention and development walk the same path.
Be resolved – not discouraged – when you realize how quickly people change jobs.
Resolve to develop relationships even if they’re short-lived.
Commit to develop people even if it’s likely they’ll move on.
Build relationships and develop people because it reflects who you are.
When someone moves on, celebrate their move even if you’re sad to see them go.
The person walking out the door is an advertisement for future team members.
The way you treat people who leave reveals the sincerity of your commitment to serve people.
Serve the best interest of everyone on the team even though some choose to find other employment.
How might leaders find the inner strength to serve employees who will likely move to new jobs?
Bonus material:
Managing for Employee Retention (SHRM)
*47% of Workers are Thinking about Quitting Right Now (CNBC)
Dan, excellent subject! As turnover is a reality, we should understand that possibility we have the opportunity to have a farther reaching influence for good. By investing in the growth and success of those we are leading now, we can help them and thus our industry, culture and world. I try to remember that developing others is made even more important with turnover. Eventually the investment comes full circle and we have a place people want to be involved with and those trying to join us exceeds the number of those leaving. Please continue your fantastic content!
Thanks Dan. The sense your comment gives me is hope. Have hope that generous service is worth it.
“Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.” -Andy, The Shawshank Redemption
How might leaders find the inner strength to serve employees who will likely move to new jobs?
These leaders have the foresight to perhaps enhance these individuals in hopes they may stay, surely in this day and age, “Salary demands” seems to be the driving force to those who move on, knowing these facts, may lead to ways of keeping individuals, if these requirements can be met? Unfortunately the purse strings are only part of the picture. Finding individuals who are qualified is a mainstay for many, investing in someone without qualifications is expensive and time consuming with long terms invested trying to get an ROI with individuals you educated and they leave anyway. The process is a vicious cycle, stay the course with what works, sometimes say “Goodbye”. Life goes on move forward with the operation and find ways to create opportunities to be competitive to attract the Talent. “For every door that closes another shall open”, knowing that “everyone is hungry”, drives individuals to ones door step.
Thanks Tim. If the surveys are right, giving learning opportunities so people can develop definitely pays off. We should also realize that older employees are not as interested in development as younger.
Very timely – retention is a major topic in our management team.
I wish you well, Taylor.
Leadership is a lot like parenting. Your job is to enable them to do their best, discover their abilities and passions, and prepare them for moving on. Whether they move to another opportunity within your organization and find their path externally, the relationship you built and your contribution to helping them succeed lives on with you.
Thanks Susan. I suppose it’s a little less painful if they move on within an organization. 🙂
But, enabling people to achieve more seems like the only option, even if they might move out.
According to ASTD, healthy turnover or “organizational respiration” runs between 8 and 10%. If we really believe that we are stewards of our staff, we want them to leave better than they arrived…on every level, regardless of the reason for their departure. Will some people take what they can get without considering what they’re giving? Of course. But the majority will give back from what they receive, and in the long run, we all benefit.
Nicely said, Bob. “… leave them better than they arrived …” That speaks to me. It’s something to keep in mind when you get discouraged after pouring yourself into someone who leaves.
Very interesting thoughts and insights. It is a paradox to be kind to people that might or will eventually leave the organisation. In these chaotic times of uncertainty, relationships are the one true test of humanity that should therefore be cultivated. Thanks for sharing this
Hi Dan, I’m wondering how many ever think of returning to a previous employer. I have a “come back” history that might have some thinking its really worth pouring their heart out.
I was the General Manager for a number of companies and respective divisions over the course of my 35 years in management. I was typically deployed as a change agent / turn around specialist to make bad into good, good into better, and better into best.
At one facility, I recall one of my management staff continually expressing a desire to start his own business. I was grooming him to be a General Manager during the time he was working for me. One day he called me to ask for advice about a company he was thinking of buying. I had already moved on to a new opportunity at that time. After a lengthy discussion, I suggested it would be a great opportunity for him.
A few years later, he called me looking for some help to grow his business. I’ll call this company A. I agreed and became his General Manager to help him grow his business into a new facility which he now owns. I left after a couple of years to pursue another opportunity with a company “B” to do what I do best.
A few years later, the owner of company A called me again. He and another partner bought another company that was bigger than they could manage. I agreed to join them as General Manager of the newly purchased company and ran it for four years, making improvements, process development, system changes, growing the business, and employee development / training before handing the reins back to them.
Why would I leave? I was called by company B again as they had just purchased two new plants and needed assistance to rethink and re-organize their manufacturing operations. I returned as their director of operations to introduce new product flows, install new equipment, develop new processes for their product line, and to develop / train the team.
We just finished getting things organized and I received a call from company A again. They recently moved into a much larger facility and more business is set to launch in 2021. They needed help to set a strategy to plan the way forward. I am once again with company A.
So, what’s the point to this whole story? There are a few. Treat your employees well because you may be working for them some day. Never burn your bridges. Work so they’ll miss you when you leave and make them happier than they’ve ever been when you return. There’s more. Always keep in touch. I always made a point of calling or arranging brief visits just to keep in touch.
My personal goal is to always share what I can to give me the freedom to move on with my career, all while enhancing and creating opportunities to advance for those I left behind … unless they need me again. A true leader develops their team with a succession plan in mind and, when the time is right, leaves a sustainable business and a happy competent team in their wake.
A timely subject-for my office. Leaders can treat everyone with respect and help make the business a great place to work in the meantime. As a leader you should want to see your employees develop even if you won’t be the one on the receiving end of that development. This will also make for a better workplace environment, one that may recruit people in the future.